Flat fee proposed for full-time tuition at Northampton Community College

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By SARA K.SATULLO

poconorecord.com

By SARA K.SATULLO

Posted Jan. 11, 2013 at 7:54 AM
Updated Jan 11, 2013 at 8:36 AM

By SARA K.SATULLO

Posted Jan. 11, 2013 at 7:54 AM
Updated Jan 11, 2013 at 8:36 AM

» Social News

BETHLEHEM -NorthamptonCommunity College plans next fall to start charging a flat full­time tuition no matter how many courses a student takes.

Full-time students will still pay different tuition prices based on where they live, with Northampton County stu­dents paying the lowest rate of $1,845 per semester. Tu­ition and fees for part-time in­county students will increase by $4 per credit to $123.

College President Mark Erickson said the switch is in line with what eight of Penn­sylvania’s14 community col­leges, including Lehigh Car­bon Community College, havealready done.

The college announced the change to college trustees Thursday during their 2013-14 budget review.

The proposed $70.4 mil­lion operating budget hikes student tuition and fees by 3.3 percent while increas­ingspending by 2.3 percent. About 70 percent of the bud­get growth can be attribute to rising salary and benefits costs, officials said.

The flat tuition means students will pay the same amount to take 12 or 17 cred­its, incentivizing students to complete school faster, NCC spokeswoman Heidi Butler explained. Plus, full-time stu­dents fare much better than their part-time peers, she said.

A Monroe County student could pay $3,075 a semester to attend NCC or pay an esti­mated $4,420 per semester at East Stroudsburg University, Dunleavy said.

“A Monroe student is pay­ingabout a third less,” hesaid.

The ability to compare tu­ition also furthers NCC’s ef­forts to increase enrollment by promoting the college as a great value, officials said.

A recent study by the non­profit called “Time is the En­emy” found that 55.3 percent of full-time Pennsylvania col­lege students earned a bach­elor’sdegree within six years while only 13.3 percent of part-time students graduated in the same time frame.

“It enables them to focus more on their education,” Butler said.

It also allows prospective students to make a true com­parison of the cost of an NCC education versus neighboring schools, said Jim Dunleavy, the college’s vice president for finance.

NCC plans to cut five va­cant positions in its next bud­get and rely more on part­timeworkers, Dunleavysaid.

“We’re also thinking about the future,” Erickson said.

Northampton plans to add men’s lacrosse and cross country next year to attract more students. The college hopes to add women’s soccer in 2014-15.

To attract new students, the college is studying creat­ing accelerated degree pro­grams in fields such as com­munity health coach, licensed massage therapy and envi­ronmental science, said Jeff Focht, vice president for aca­demic affairs.

“Maybe an 18 month-pro­gram,”he said.The budget asks the col­lege’s eight sponsoring dis­tricts in Northampton Coun­ty to again increase their contribution to the college by 1.7 percent. The budget must be approved by five of the eight local school districts that help fund Northampton. All districts typically vote on the plan by April.